Mail-bag catching and delivering apparatus.



s. WATSON MAIL BAG UATGHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.v

APPLICATION FILED 0GT.3,1913.

W 11 11 W a fl J; a n m a P m 6 COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO-,WASHXNGTON. D. c.

S. WATSON.

MAIL BAG GATOHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.3, 1913.

Patented Jan. 20, 1914,.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

COLUMBIA LANcCm-J'H (O-.WASHINGTON. D, c.

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STROTHER WATSON, OF GALLATIN, TENNESSEE.

MAIL-BAG CATCI-IING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 3, 1913.

Patented J an. 20, 1914.

Serial No. 793,212.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, STROTHER iVATsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gallatin, in the county of Sumner and State of Tennessee, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mail- Bag Catching and Delivering Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to mail bag catching and delivering apparatus, and has for its primary object to provide an apparatus of this character wherein the exchange of mail bags between a moving train and a station can be effected without damage to the bags and without necessitating any reduction of speed of travel of the train.

Another obj ect of the invention is the provision of an apparatus of this character wherein the means for catching and delivering mail bags to and from a train can be readily and easily reversed to assure the working thereof irrespective of the direction of travel of the train.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus of this character wherein the mail bags when caught at the station can be readily taken therefrom, the device on the car being readily and easily operated and is of a novel form.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus of this character which is extremely simple in construction, thoroughly reliable and efiicient in operation, strong, durable, and inexpensive in manufacture.

W'ith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawing :Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a mail car show ing the position of the mail bag catcher and delivering devices on the said car and at the station respectively, the same being constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the car, showing the device thereon in inoperative position. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the station device, the same being shown shifted for the removal of the bag caught thereby. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a mail bag, showing the means for connecting it to either of the devices on the car and at the station respectively.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views in the drawings.

Referring to the drawings in detail, A designates a portion of the body of a mail car which is of the ordinary well-known construction having the usual doorway B therein on which is mounted the. bag catching and delivering device presently described.

The mail bag catching and delivery device for the car comprises a horizontally arranged shaft 10 which is detachably mounted in bearings 11 suitably fixed in the sides of the doorway B at an intermediate point thereof. Integrally formed with the shaft 10 and extending angularly with respect thereto outwardly therefrom is an arm 12 formed with an extension 13 at right angles to the said shaft 10 having mounted thereon spaced pairs of bag catching and delivery fingers 14 and 15 respectively, each finger being formed with an outwardly curved end 16 so as to permit theentrance of the hanger for the mail bag or the re moval of the same from between the said fingers. One of the fingers 14 carries a spring catch 17 which is adapted to lock the hanger of the mail bag when inserted between the pair of fingers 14: for the catching of the bag by the device on the car, while pivotally mounted between the fingers 15 is a trip catch device 18 which is adapted to release the hanger of the mail bag when disposed betwen the fingers 15 for its delivery at the station in a manner presently described. This device 18 has its outer end projected so that when in looking position it will be disposed in the path of the connecting portion between the arms 27 and 28 of the crane 26 so as to engage therewith, whereby the said device will be tripped to releasing position for the delivery of the bag fro-m a car to the station while the said car is traveling.

Extending from the shaft 10 to the arm 12 is a brace 19, the same being integrally formed therewith to reinforce the device carried on the car. This brace 19 is mounted in a coupling 20 fixed on the shaft 10, and in this coupling is engaged a lever or handle 21 which can be readily gripped by an operator for setting the device in operative position or to permit the device to be swung to inoperative position.

The station device comprises a base 22 which is fixed in the track bed at one side of the track and has rising therefrom a standard 23, the same being fixed in the base in any suitable manner. Swingingly connected to the standard 23 at the upper end thereof is a frame 24:, to the horizontal bar 25 of which is fixed a crane 26 formed with long and short arms 27 and 28 respectively. On the long arm are mounted spaced pairs of oppositely extending resilient bag delivery fingers 29, while fixed to the short arm 28 are pairs of spaced oppositely extending resilient bag delivery fingers 30, these fingers 29 and 30 being constructed similarly to the fingers 14 and 15 on the device carried by the car.

Swingingly connected to the horizontal bar 25 of the frame 24 is a latch arm 31 which is adapted to engage in a keeper 32 fixed to the standard 23, and when the said lever 31 is engaged in the latter it holds the station mail bag catching and delivery device in operative position for the exchanging of mail bags between the same and a moving car.

Each mail bag 33 is provided with a hanger pin 34: which is adapted to engage between the fingers of either device on the car or at the station.

The shaft 10 can be reversed so as to set the device, whereby mail bags can be exchanged between a moving train and the station irrespective of the direction of travel of the train.

In operation, a mail bag is hung upon the device on the car, that is, by engaging the pin 34 of the said bag between the fingers 15, the trip catch 18 being in a position to lock the bag thus hung, and thereafter the device is set in operative position so that the extension 13 will pass between the arms of the crane 26 of the device at the station, it being understood of course that a mail bag is hung between the fingers 29 on the arm 27 and the crane 26 of the station device. Now, as the train reaches the station the devices when properly set will exchange the mail bags between the moving train and the station. When it is desired to remove the bag caught by the station device it is necessary to remove the lever 31 from the keeper 32 and thereafter swing the frame 2& arouately away from the track so that the station master or other person can detach the mail bag from the device at the station.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and manner of operation of the device will be clearly understood, and therefore a more extended explanation has been omitted.

What is claimed is 1. A mail bag catching and delivery device comprising a reversible bar adapted to be mounted across the doorway of a car, an arm projecting angularly from the said bar and having an extension at right angles to the latter, spaced pairs of fingers mounted on the extension and having divergent ends, a spring catch cooperative with one pair of fingers, a mail bag catching and delivery device arranged at a station, and a trip catch cooperative with the other pair of fingers and engageable with the station mail bag catching and delivery device for releasing the same.

2. The combination with a mail bag catching and delivery device adapted to be mounted upon a car, of a station mail bag catching and delivery device comprising a base, a standard rising from the base, a frame swingingly connected to the standard and having a horizontal bar, a crane mounted upon the horizontal bar and having its ends disposed in vertical alinemcnt and in spaced relation to each other, spaced fingers mounted on the ends of the crane and extended in opposite directions to each other, and means for holding the frame in a position whereby the ends of the crane will be projected into the path of the mail bag catching and delivery device on the car.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

STROTHER NVATSON.

Witnesses LOUIS C. GUILD, R. M. RAMSEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

